Are the Chicago Bulls pursuing Jabari Parker?

A recent report suggests the Chicago Bulls are a potential landing spot for Jabari Parker.

A recent report suggests that the Chicago Bulls could be a potential destination for free agent Jabari Parker. The Illinois native was a high school standout and was the No. 1 ranked recruit during his senior year. Parker ultimately enrolled at Duke University, playing only one season before entering the 2014 NBA Draft.

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Parker with the second overall pick. The Bucks had extremely high expectations for the Duke star. Unfortunately, Parker tore his ACL in December of 2014 and missed the rest of the 2014 season and part of the 2015 season.

After a series of minor injuries, Parker tore the same ACL again in February of 2017. However, up to that point, Parker was having a very good season. He was averaging 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He was starting to look like the No. 2 overall selection. Last season, after recovering from his second ACL injury, Parker only managed to get into a total of 31 games.

Should the Bulls be an Option?

If reports are true and the Bulls are a potential landing spot, the next logical question is ‘should they be?’ The fact remains that when healthy, Parker is a tremendous talent. He flashed his ability in 2017 before suffering a second devastating injury. However, any team would be thrilled to pencil in a power forward who puts up the kind of numbers Parker did that year.

Nevertheless, it’s impossible to ignore the injury history. Parker is very injury prone, therefore teams pursuing him need to temper expectations. Not only must teams temper expectations for on-court performance, but they must factor that injury history into any offer. Therefore, the Bulls should discount any offer.

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At this stage, Parker is probably worth the gamble. He would add an element at power forward that the Bulls simply don’t have. If he’s able to stay healthy, he has the potential to be a star. If he’s not able to stay healthy, the Bulls wouldn’t be out much, assuming they made a reasonable offer. Again though, it’s critical the Bulls don’t overpay, but the risk could certainly be worth the reward.